East Asia

Chinese city on edge

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Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with The World’s Mary Kay Magistad about the mood in the city of Urumqi in western China, where ethnic riots broke out earlier this week between ethnic Uighurs and Han Chinese.
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Unrest in western China

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LISA MULLINS: China is dealing with continuing unrest, but this is unrest of a different sort. Ethnic violence between Turkic Uighurs and Han Chinese in the western City of Urumqi has already killed more than 150 people. Today, the government made sure that there were no more clashes. It sent thousands of troops into the city, and Communist Party leaders in Beijing vowed to maintain stability in China’s volatile West. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad is in the west, in Urumqi. She says the troops are making their presence felt.

MARY KAY MAGISTAD: They’re marching down the streets in different area, they’re riding around on trucks chanting, and they’re really trying to make it clear that they are here to enforce order. And I think the Han Chinese here definitely feel that these troops, and these police, are on their side, and they’re here to protect them. The Uighurs, who are in a different part of town are much more concerned about the police. There have been searches within Uighurs neighborhoods over the last couple of days for people who might have been involved in the riots on Sunday. And, you know, when I was in one of the neighborhoods where it’s primarily Uighurs, today, a lot of people said they were very afraid of the police that were coming through.

LISA MULLINS: Mary Kay, what do you make of something that was read out on the State run news service in China? We’re gonna play a little bit of it now. This is a newsreader speaking in Mandarin.

NEWSREADER: [SPEAKS IN MANDARIN]

LISA MULLINS: Here’s what she’s saying, “We should bare this in mind that the Han people can’t be separated from minorities, and minorities cannot be separated from the Han people.” By minorities, she’s referring to the Uighurs there. She concludes by saying, “Officials and ordinary people should cherish the great atmosphere of all the minorities working, preparing, and developing together.” This is a statement that was issued by the Chinese government, read on the news there. So what do you make of it?

MARY KAY MAGISTAD: This is an ideology that People’s Republic of China had its foot forward for the last 60 years. Also, it has a story that it [INDISCERNIBLE] that China, as it is now, has always been this way. That Shin Jung and Tibet have always been part of China. But when you talk to Uighurs, and when you talk to Tibetans, they have a different story. You know, it’s striking going around here and talking to people how there are two parallel realities. And this really came home to me today with two young people I talked to. One of them is a young Uighur woman who had been learning English, one of them was Han Chinese. The Uighur woman was saying, you know, “It really kind of burns me that both Uighurs and Han were violent and killed people. Uighurs say that a number of Uighurs were killed by Han on Tuesday.” And she says, you know, “Why aren’t the police going after them?” You know, she was saying, “This is just typical.” And she said, “This is why I don’t have any Han friends, and why I don’t trust them.” On the other side of town, I’m talking to this young University student who says, you know, “My Uighur friends at University say how grateful they are, that the Han Chinese came here and built up this beautiful city and healthy economy. And, indeed they should be grateful to us because we really have done amazing things here.” And when I ask, you know, do you think that there might be some Uighurs who aren’t so happy that so many non-Chinese came here? He looked at me like he had no idea what I was talking about. And when I told him about the earlier conversation I had, he was really kind of shocked.

LISA MULLINS: Well, it will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow, a key day, because it will be Friday, a day for weekly prayers among the Muslim/Uighur population, as a Muslim holy day. It’s also though, potentially, a day for more unrest. What are you hearing there?

MARY KAY MAGISTAD: Well, certainly no one’s gonna come out and say, you know, by the way, tomorrow after prayers, we’re gonna take to the streets again. And I think that it would be very difficult, actually, for Uighurs to, you know, rise up in any significant way, given how many troops are around. I went by a Mosque today where there were troops up in the [INDISCERNIBLE] and all around the Mosque, armed troops. The Uighurs I talked to today said they think that the Mosque will be open tomorrow for prayer. It would certainly, probably create a problem if it weren’t. But, I would have no doubt that they will be closely watched, and that if anyone does decide to try to agitate, then it’s gonna be put down pretty quickly.

LISA MULLINS: Thank you very much. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad in the heart of Urumqi in western China. Thanks again Mary Kay.

MARY KAY MAGISTAD: Thank you Lisa.

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